MagNet conference will not be held in 2015, instead integrated with FIPP World Congress

MagNet, the annual industry conference in June will not be held next year, according to Magazines Canada. Instead, some of the Canadian programming will be integrated with the FIPP World Congress that is to be held in Toronto October 13-15. (It's the first time that the international congress of magazine media has been held in Canada.) The association will be considering how to revitalize MagNet before June 2016. 

In a message to members, Mark Jamison, CEO of Magazines Canada said:

After broad consultation, Magazines Canada’s Board of Directors and the team behind the MagNet conference have decided to develop and integrate Canadian programming with international programming at FIPP 2015 instead of mounting the annual MagNet, normally held in June.  

Over the next few months, the Canadian and European management team will create a 2015 FIPP World Congress program that will shine a global spotlight on Canada’s magazine media within a diverse international perspective. The Congress Co-chairs are Fabrizio D’Angelo (Hubert Burda Media, Germany) and Douglas Knight (St. Joseph Media, Canada).  

And there is more good news. This change in scheduling will allow Canada’s magazine media to consider future-focused initiatives to serve the needs of our evolving industry, including a dynamic new MagNet conference in June 2016.

Magazines Canada wins international gold research award from FIPP

Magazines Canada has won a gold award at the FIPP Research Awards, presented in Hamburg, Germany, for its "Media Connections Study".  The study looked at  how consumers engage in all forms of media and the report and presentation was shared with marketers and advertisers, telling them how to better connect with consumers through multiple media channels, including magazines.

Fellow gold winner were Gruner + Jahr, Germany, IPC Media, U.K., and the Magazine Publishers of Australia. (Synopses of the shortlist for the awards.) In presenting the awards, FIPP president and CEO Chris Llewellyn said 

“Making the case for the effectiveness of advertising with magazine media has never been more demanding. In a world of big data and ever more granular metrics, the challenge to magazine media researchers and national magazine media associations, is to come up with solutions that cut through the complexity and deliver insightful conclusions that demonstrate the unique qualities of our brands and the medium. FIPP’s Research Awards were designed to recognise such outstanding work which we believe will benefit magazine media groups everywhere.”

The Magazines Canada study was done in collaboration with BrandSpark and a copy of the research is available at http://www.magazinescanada.ca/advertising/research/connections-study 

Magazines Canada shortlisted for international research award

Magazines Canada, the Canadian magazine industry association, has been shortlisted for the FIPP 2014 Research Awards, being presented June 16 in Hamburg, Germany. The winners will be announce during the FIPP Research Forum for researchers, publishers and marketing executives. 

The awards are meant to recognize the  best research studies published in 2013 that promote the use of magazine media as an advertising medium, anywhere in the world. ‘Magazine media’ includes print, digital platforms and/or any other relevant publisher channel. Magazines Canada was included in the list because of  the "Media Connections Study" released last year.

It is in impressive company, covering a wide geography and range of subjects, research done by other associations such as American Business Media and the Magazine Publishers of Australia and major publishing companies such as IPC Media, UK, Meredith Corporation and Bauer Media, all selected for a particular piece of industry research. 

FIPP is the worldwide magazine media association representing companies and individuals involved in the creation, publishing, or distribution of quality content, in whatever form, by whatever channel, and in the most appropriate frequency, to defined audiences of interest.

[Overview of the study.]

Magazines Canada gets a shout-out with international magazine association

Magazines Canada has been profiled in the most recent quarterly issue of Magazine World from FIPP, the worldwide magazine media association, which publishes a decidedly upbeat interview with CEO Mark Jamison.
The article highlights, in addition to the MagNet conference and its recently-launched promotional magazine Canadian Magazines Canadien, the association's various programs and services on behalf of consumer and b2b titles. It reports that Magazines Canada has a strategic goal of topping 400 member titles in the next year. A digital version of Magazine World can be found here.  

FIPP becomes...FIPP, officially

The International Federation of the Periodical Press, which everyone has taken to calling FIPP has changed its name officially to FIPP Limited, with the revised tagline "The worldwide media magazine association".  The change was approved by members at a general meeting December 2.

"FIPP is not only changing its name, but also its mission, its organisation structure, and its approach to its products and services so that it represents more appropriately what our members are doing and the journey they are on in developing multimedia brands that come from a magazine heritage starting point,*” said president and CEO Chris Llewellyn in a post on its website

The new name and mission is being reflected in new articles of association which will have the added benefit for FIPP's far-flung members (of whom Magazines Canada is one) that future communications can be sent electronically; until now, everything was mandated to be delivered in hard copy.

[*How do you like the concept of print being a "magazine heritage starting point"?]

British magazine association to unveil carbon footprint tool

Britain's Periodical Publishers Association (the equivalent of Magazines Canada) is to unveil a new tool that allows magazines to calculate the "carbon footprint" of their titles.

The carbon calculator will be unveiled at the International Federation of the Periodical Press (FIPP) world magazine congress opening in London this week, according to a story in Press Gazette.

The tool, which has taken two years to develop, says FIPP, makes it the first magazine trade association to calculate the environmental impact that its members' work is having.

PPA chief executive Jonathan Shephard said: "Environmental concerns and sustainability are close to the heart of magazine publishers.

"The PPA carbon footprint calculator uses complex systems to give publishers a classically simple result, which they can apply to their business.

"In environmental issues, as well as in brilliant and diverse content, UK magazine publishing is the pace-setter."